Oppose telehealth video-link consultations for euthanasia and assisted dying

It is essential Right to Life Australia Inc. and our supporters do our utmost to prevent the federal government legislating to allow doctors to use telehealth consultations to authorise physician assisted suicide which all states now allow.

Prominent Doctor "extremely concerned"

Dr John Daffy, spokesperson for the Australian Care Alliance, a group opposed to voluntary euthanasia, said he was "extremely concerned" about any legislation that would enable doctors to conduct telehealth consultations on "something as serious as this".

"Through in-person consultations, you get to know patients and with every consult and interaction you learn more about them and you can pick up on their unspoken body language, which can't be ascertained through the internet," Dr Daffy said.

"I understand the motivation, they're doing it because of people in the country ... but you're talking about people killing themselves. It's actually the most serious thing anyone would ever be involved in, and it would seem inappropriate to do it via telehealth."

Arguments to use against telehealth consultations for euthanasia and assisted dying

• In itself this a dramatic step down a perilous path, where physicians would be authorised to prescribe death to patients on demand without even seeing them in person.
• Such telehealth consultations are the most serious step in a patient's life. The consultation must be treated with appropriate seriousness because it involves a "life and death" decisions.
• Patients struggling to accept imminent death will, most likely, be deprived of the palliative care that might make the end of their life a journey and not a defeat.
• Palliative care accompanies patients as their struggle through the various stages — or various forms of resistance — to the peaceful acceptance of death. Depriving patients this care and relegating them to a merely a video link "tick" is irresponsible.
• There would be no adequate be safeguards from exploitation, such as elder abuse which is so rampant yet hard to detect particularly in a brief video-link consultation in which the "abusers" may well be present.
• The atmosphere of merely a video consultation can actually lead to impulsive decision making.

Victoria's voluntary assisted dying laws, which came into force in 2019, require two doctors to make an in-person assessment to ensure the patient is of sound mind, and has less than six months to live with a physical illness or 12 months with a neurological condition.

Mr Grimley, a Justice Party MLC, moved a private member's bill in 2021 to allow Telehealth consultation for euthanasia and assisted dying. The bill was never debated and with the coming election it has fortunately now lapsed.

The Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board said in its latest report that while accessibility to euthanasia was improving for regional Victorians, there was a need for more specialists. It also found that 36 per cent of applications to access the scheme were from patients living outside of metropolitan Melbourne.

Euthanasia advocates including Mr Grimley, the VAD Review Board and the Andrews government, have urged the federal government to overturn legislation, which essentially makes it illegal for doctors to conduct voluntary assisted dying appointments via telehealth.

A Victorian government spokesman said the Commonwealth's Criminal Code 1995 is a barrier for accessing euthanasia, particularly for regional patients or those too ill to attend an appointment in person.

"We're aware that intersecting Commonwealth laws make it difficult for telehealth to be used to discuss voluntary assisted dying, which has also been exacerbated by restrictions required as part of the coronavirus pandemic response."

"The Victorian government and the independent Board have repeated its call for the Commonwealth to reconsider making an exemption from the Criminal Code to allow Victorians, especially those in regional Victoria, to be able to have important conversations about voluntary assisted dying over the phone or via teleconference."